, 1887-08-12

CHATswoRTH, Aug. ll.-No sooner
had the wreck occurred than a scene of
robbery commenced. A band of mis-
%creants, heartless and only with criminal
Instincts, was on hand, like the guerrillas
who thrUng a battlefield the night after a
conflict to fitch from the dead. So last
night did these human hyenas plumber
the dead from this terrible accident, and
take eve the shoes which covered their
feet. Who the wretches are is not known.
Whether they were a band of pickpock-
cts who accompanied the train or some
robber gang who were lurking in the
vicinity cannot be said. The horrible
suspicion, however, exists, and there are
many who give it credit, that the accident
was a deliberately planned case Of train
wrecking, and that the bridge was set on
fire by the miscrcants, who hoped to seize
the opportunity offered. The fact that
the bridge was 50 far consumed at the
time the train anne along, and the added
tact that the tram was an hour and a half
late, are pointed out as evidence of a
careful conspiracy.
1t seems hardly possible that man
could be so lost to all ordinary feeling
which animates the basest of the human
race; yet still, men who will rob a dead
man-who will steal from the dying, or
will plumber the wounded held down by
broken beams Of a wrecked car, the
wounded whose death by fire seemed i'm
minent-can do almost anything which is
base. And that is what these fends in
human form did. They went into the
cars when the fire was burning ~fiercely
underneath, and when the poor wretchcs
who were penned there begged them for
Cod sake to help them out, stripped
them of their watches and jewelry and
searched their pockets for money.
When the dead bodies were laid out in
the cornield, these hyenas turned them
over in their search for valuables; and
that the plundering was done by an or
ganized gang was proven by the fact that
this morning out in the cornfield sixteen
purses, all empty, were found in one
heap. 1t was a ghastly plundering. Had
the plunderers been caught this afternoon
they would surely have been lynched.
Heartrending Scene.
There was one incident of the accident
which stood out more horrible than all of
the horrible scenes. In the coach was a
man, his wife and little child. His name
could not be learned to-day, but it is said
he got on at Peoria. When the accident
occurred the entire family of three was
caught, held down by broken woodwork.
Finally, when relief came, the man
turned to the friendly aid aud feebly said:
Take out my wife first. I'm afraid the
child is dead SO they carried out the
mother, and as a broken seat was taken
off her crushed breast the blood which
welled from her lips told how badly she
was hurt. They carried the child-a fair
haired, blue-eyed girl Of 3 ycars-and laid
her in the cornfeld, dead, alonside OF her
dying mother. Then they went back for
the father and brought him out.
Both his legs were broken, but he
crawled through the corn to the side of
his wife, and feeling her loved features
in the darkness, pressed some brandy to
her lips and asked her how she felt. \
feeble grOan was the answer, and the
next instant she died. The man felt the
forms of his dead wife and child and
cried GU, My God; there is nothing for
me to live for now, and taking a pistol
out OF his pocket pulled the trigger. The
bullet went surely through his brain, and
the three dead bodies of that little family
are now lying side bv side in C%hatsworth
waiting to be identified.
scenes In the Coaches.
Mr.. Falroth on passing one Of the
coaches was requested Tor God 5 sake to